The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Panel Bond

I did a search on this forum for Panel Bond and didn't find much. I haven't seen it in use and was wanting to get some information before I decide to tackle my cab corners and steps. I have all the tools required to MIG weld the panels , I 'm a little concerned about that much heat and the amount of metal work after welding. Looking for some solid advice on which way to go.

I would think panel bond would (should?) only be used where panels lapped over underlying structure. If you put lap joints in the middle of a panel as would be needed for the top edge of cab corners, you might wind up with the "ghost line" that MP&C demonstrated in a link on one of his posts here.

Panel bond holds together passenger planes, super sonic jet fighters, and even the door hinges to the body of your 90's and up Chevy pickups. Putting a metal filler in the cloth top hole on 20's and 30's cars used to take a week of welding followed by working the warpage out. Now it takes overnight. It must be DONE RIGHT but if the directions are followed it is as permanent as weld plus it doesn't allow any water infiltration of the seams. It saves us untold hours on patching unwanted holes in firewalls and dashes. Pics of a 30 Model A with steel top insert bonded in ten years ago and a 49 3100 pickup with MANY holes inn the firewall patched with panel bond 30 years ago.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/34bH4hSc/IMG-4335.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/WDN3028N/dan-s-49-011.jpg[/img]

What type of prep work needs to done using Panel Bond ?

I've watched a couple videos using panel bond for repairs, and it looks like a great idea for some stuff. I think the only prep is clean, bare metal, and of course good fitting parts with a good way to clamp them together. I'm going to use it to bond 1/8in aluminum panels together to line the interior of my 55 Chevy 210. I have a couple hundred feet of scrap aluminum 12in wide by 5 feet long to piece together to make bigger panels. I think I can clamp them together in my sheet metal brake while the glue cures.

Evan

Given the need for clamping panels together, how did you manage to clamp that steel roof to replace the fabric roof on the Model A? I suppose that weights would do the trick as long as the panel was horizontal, but if it were vertical, it would be a challenge. Magnets probably wouldn't do the job, as the attraction between the two sheets of steel would be minimal, but maybe a magnet on each side would work. Just curious.

Finish it all off with a high quality body wrap like the NASCAR boyz. lol

I would think one way would be some really long clamps. Maybe two pieces of wood strapped together, one over the roof, the other through the door openings, then use wedges to clamp things. The are multiple ways to apply pressure to something.

Mark

I agree about the multiple ways. I've put together some pretty Rube Goldberg things myself.

So in order to use Panel Bond I would need to form a seam on the panel first. I found this tool on Eastwood (https://www.eastwood.com/malco-offset-seamer-tongs.html) would this work for forming the seam required?

I'd think that an offset rather than a right angle flange would work better. Eastwood also has tools for forming an offset.
Pneumatic Flanger
Hand Flanger
Wide Hand Panel Flanger

The method we use for a large panel like a roof insert is to first fit it into place with no adhesive using #8 self drilling screws about 2" apart. Any gaps are worked till the fit is close. Next the area around the opening is media blasted and then roughed up for two inches back from the edges with #36 grinding disc. Same is done around the edge of the metal insert. Enough bond is applied to where it will squeeze out on both sides of the seam and using ice picks as guides the panel is lowered into place. The self drilling screws are temporarily installed till bonds tacks good. Last, the screws are removed and replaced with ones that have been notched halfway through just under the head and tightened till the head snaps off. This give the insert both a mechanical and adhesive bond. When 24 grit grinding discs were available for lead work they created so much less heat than finer discs one could just grind the screw heads off along with the squished out bonding agent. Any bonded panel that shows shadows was not done right.